My Arch-Nemesis is the R-Rated Male Lead - Chapter 11

Zhou Li’s mind suddenly echoed with a mischievous “Hehehe~”, and for a split second, he nearly knocked her on the head with his sword. Thankfully, his self-control kicked in just in time.

He instinctively stepped back, raising his sword in front of him like a shield.

Lu Rong turned toward the man standing with his arms folded across his chest, expression cool and unreadable. Her gaze slid down to the collar tightly pressed against his Adam’s apple, layered and constricting, almost like some overly complicated seal.

[Pressing it that tight… ripping it open would definitely feel satisfying.]

Zhou Li reached out and grabbed her head, giving it two firm shakes.

Lu Rong wobbled twice under his grip, and by the time she escaped his clutches, her vision was spinning. “Why are you shaking my head?”

“I saw a ghost.” Zhou Li retracted his hand and walked straight past her.

“What ghost?”

“A perverted ghost.” Without looking back, he tossed out the words and left first.

Lu Rong rubbed her head. “Seriously?”

Why was this man acting so strange in broad daylight!

She had only spaced out for a moment, yet Zhou Li was already far ahead. Fortunately, his tall figure made him easy to spot.

Zhou Li walked straight into a pharmacy. The shop attendant greeted him enthusiastically, “Are you here for a checkup or to buy medicine, sir?”

“To buy medicine for dissolving blood stasis.” Zhou Li replied, then turned to look at the person slowly trailing behind.

“Why are you walking so fast?” Lu Rong practically had to jog over.

“I have business to take care of.” Zhou Li wasn’t here for leisure.

This morning, while cultivating, the demon fire that had lain dormant in him for years suddenly flared, though only for an instant.

Sensing the disturbance came from Luo City, he had left the Xuan Yang Sect to come investigate what had appeared.

Thinking it unusual that Zhou Li wasn’t dealing with things swiftly as usual, Lu Rong kindly asked, “Are you sure you can handle it alone?”
If he couldn’t, she could go with him.

“You can’t?”

Lu Rong: “???” Who let him throw the question back at her!

“I can! I’m not just at the Foundation Establishment stage anymore!” Lu Rong lifted her chin proudly.

Zhou Li tossed the medicine the waiter had placed on the tray into her arms. “Mm. Apply the medicine, little Golden Core.”

“You’re so annoying!” Lu Rong huffed, taking the medicine to rub on her chin. Afraid of the pain, she only applied it symbolically.

“This medicine needs to be rubbed in with a bit of force to work,” the waiter commented from the side.

But Lu Rong, scared of the pain, still smeared it carelessly. Just as she was about to put it away, a cool hand reached out, pressing down on her head. His dark eyes held no emotion. “Lift your chin.”

Lu Rong was still wondering what he meant when he tilted her head up slightly, exposing her chin. His palm pressed against it as he rubbed the medicine in a few firm circles.

For the first time, Lu Rong felt like her chin was on fire, so much so that she didn’t even snap back.

Her whole body went tense. She even forgot to breathe.

After Zhou Li finished, he tossed out a gold bar to pay. Lu Rong saw this, quickly snatched it back, and paid herself. When she was done, she added, “A gold bar is worth a lot of money, don’t use it so carelessly.”

Saying that, she tucked the gold bar into her clothes. Money from her archenemy? She’d be a fool not to take it.

[Even his own dowry money needs me to worry about. Such a worry.]

Zhou Li: “…”

He looked at her head, wondering why she had so many thoughts swirling in there every single day. He didn’t argue with her and simply walked out of the pharmacy to leave.

Lu Rong hesitated, then finally called out, “Hey!”

Zhou Li looked back at her, puzzled. Lu Rong felt a little embarrassed. She just thought that Zhou Li had barely interacted with people, and being alone might not be safe.

Lu Rong pouted. “You… do you know the roads in Luo City?”

Zhou Li gave a slight nod, picked up his sword, turned around, and walked off, completely ignoring Lu Rong’s worried expression.

Lu Rong felt like she was throwing her expressions at a blind man. She had shown so much concern for a fellow disciple, and he didn’t notice even a little.

Still, Zhou Li was capable enough that nothing should happen to him.

She couldn’t be bothered to worry about him anymore. Besides, she now had a gold bar and could open a new room for herself.

She planned to return to the inn from the pharmacy. Since the pharmacy wasn’t far, she’d have to pass the stone she had looked at earlier.

Lu Rong really felt that the stone looked stranger the more she looked at it, mainly because it sat all alone in the middle of the road, without any decoration at all.

She leaned in curiously, and before she even touched it, the sound of trickling water surged from all directions. When she looked down, the ground was suddenly submerged, the water level rising all the way to the hem of her skirt.

As she wondered what it was, Bing Lie rushed toward her with a burst of cold air, and the next moment, the sword hilt tapped her lightly on the head.

“Wake up.” Zhou Li’s voice snapped her mind clear.

She fixed her gaze on him. “Hm?”

“An illusion.” Zhou Li said simply, then looked at the stone. “Let’s go.”

Lu Rong followed behind him almost on instinct, still a bit dazed.

“What kind of illusion was that water just now?”

“The Yin–Yang Spring.” When Zhou Li first arrived in Luo City and searched around, he spotted the problem with the stone on East Street at a glance.

“What’s the Yin–Yang Spring?” Lu Rong asked curiously, keeping close behind him. Her hand accidentally brushed against his sleeve.

Zhou Li’s nape tightened, and he instinctively pulled his crossed arms tighter against his chest.

“???” Lu Rong stared. What was he doing?

“The Yin-Yang Spring shows the opposite of your emotions. When you’re happy, you’ll see your saddest moment; when you’re sad, you’ll see your happiest one.” Zhou Li rarely spoke this much.

But Lu Rong clearly wasn’t listening at all, because his head was currently stuffed with her nonstop inner murmurs, 

[He’s holding his arms so tight… won’t he pinch his chest muscles?]

[Does he have chest muscle cleavage? He definitely does. Hehe.]

Zhou Li suddenly had no idea whether he should lower his hands or not. In the end, he pretended to casually drop them, then grabbed his sword and immediately put a full hundred meters between them.

He’d tested it before: beyond a hundred meters, he couldn’t hear her thoughts, and without touching her, he couldn’t see the images in her mind.

“Hey, wait for me!” Before Lu Rong could even finish panting, he was already leaving her nothing but his back.

She jogged after him. “Why doesn’t the Yin-Yang Spring have any water? And why is there a stone pressed on top of it?”

“The springhead was dug out.” Zhou Li answered like a machine that only processed direct questions.

Once they walked out of East Street, the crowd thickened, and the lively noise of people instantly filled the air. The sun was blazing, and from her short run, fine beads of sweat dotted Lu Rong’s forehead. She wiped them away.

“What are we doing now?”

[It’s so hot, so hot, I want iced tofu pudding! Iced tofu pudding!]

Zhou Li instinctively glanced at the tofu pudding stall, wanting to walk past without a reaction, but her mind began chanting like scripture.

[Iced tofu pudding, delicious iced tofu pudding… If I can’t eat it, I’ll be sad, I’ll be upset, I’ll lose sleep, and a little girl will quietly shatter.]

[Passing by iced tofu pudding is simply missing the greatest joy in life.]

[Want it, want it, want it, want it, want it…]

Zhou Li closed his eyes for a moment, and in the end, Lu Rong happily received two bowls of tofu pudding.

She used ice magic to chill both bowls, then tapped Zhou Li’s bowl with her hand.

Zhou Li looked at her in confusion. Lu Rong said, “It tastes better iced!”

Then he watched a steaming bowl instantly sprout ice crystals.

“Try it.”

She looked at him expectantly. Zhou Li said thank you, lowered his gaze, and added sugar, one spoonful, two spoonfuls, three spoonfuls, making Lu Rong’s eyes widen.

The sugar was practically a little mountain. What a terrifying man.

Zhou Li didn’t like anything bitter; he loved the sweet. So any fruit he gave was always the sweetest.

Lu Rong grabbed the sugar bowl away. “You’ve added too much. No more.” If he added any more, it would practically become sugar mixed with tofu pudding.

Zhou Li could only give up, lowering his head to slowly eat. He’d never had this kind of food before, but it tasted surprisingly good.

In the end, Lu Rong finished two bowls. When she looked over at Zhou Li eating his third, Zhou Li noticed her gaze and immediately scooped the last big spoonful into his own mouth.

Lu Rong: “…” Why did he look like she was about to steal his food?!

Ugh. So it was true—peaceful coexistence was always brief. Zhou Li’s wickedness was the one thing that never changed since ancient times.

They paid, but the old tofu seller said it was too much. Since neither of them had any coins, she simply smiled and gave each of them a bamboo section filled with the pear soup she had simmered herself.

Lu Rong took a sip. “Delicious.”

Hearing her say that, Zhou Li also drank a mouthful, and immediately an image flashed in his mind: 

Him drinking pear soup, half the liquid sliding down his chin, tracing his Adam’s apple into his collarbone, soaking his collar until it turned translucent… and then a hand brushing his collar as if to pull it open.

Zhou Li instantly set down the pear soup. “It’s not good!”

His words snapped Lu Rong out of her fantasy. He lowered his gaze to her, her face calm, her mind running wild, and his brows tightened.

This was her imagination. But he hadn’t touched her. How could he see the scenes in her mind?

Could it be—

He turned to look at the three bowls of tofu pudding he had eaten, all of them chilled with Lu Rong’s spiritual power. With remnants of her power still inside him, he could see her fantasies even without touching her.

“Go back.” He felt he couldn’t stay with her. The entire walk would probably be filled with thoughts of her trying to strip his clothes off.

Lu Rong hadn’t expected it to be so sudden. “Where are you going?”

“To take care of something.” Zhou Li vanished as soon as he finished speaking, leaving Lu Rong stunned.

Wait—why was he running so fast? She hadn’t even had time to think properly about how to undress him yet.

Could he have already found his destined heroine, and was eager to sleep with her?

“That must be exciting.” Lu Rong drank her pear soup as she swayed the tassels at her waist on her way back to the inn. “Maybe they rushed to find a hidden place and  then do it all, day and night.”

She let out a secret little laugh—only to jolt back a few steps as Zhou Li appeared in front of her again, face dark. She pointed at him, stunned. “You—didn’t you leave?”

Just moments ago, Zhou Li had discovered a horrifying truth: no matter how far he went, he could still hear her thoughts. Everything in her head streamed straight into his mind, loud and clear.

And the further he walked, the more unhinged her thoughts became.

“Come with me,” he said. He needed to give her something to do, anything, to keep her from constantly thinking indecent nonsense.

Lu Rong’s eyes lit up on the spot. Back at Xuan Yang Sect, she’d never gotten the chance to go down the mountain for training. She’d always envied Qiu Ling’s freedom.

“Mm mm! I promise I won’t cause trouble!” She raised her hand enthusiastically, excitement sparkling in her eyes.

“Look at this.” Zhou Li tossed her a book.

“Is this… some kind of important clue?” She caught it and opened it. The title read: Record of Cleansing Delusions.

“Hmm?” She flipped to the first page. “What’s this supposed to do?”

“It clears distracting thoughts. Helps cultivate a calm, desireless mind. Removes worldly cravings.”

Lu Rong: “???” So it’s… an anti-horny manual?!

She stared at the book silently. Yep. She didn’t want to read even one word of it.

Zhou Li, on the other hand, felt no book could possibly be more suitable for her.

Lu Rong vehemently disagreed.

[Who in their right mind would read this book? Next time I’ll just send him a few erotic picture books.]

[I wonder if he likes the heavy stuff or something more elegant.]

Zhou Li’s grip tightened, and he suddenly picked her up, shooting straight into the sky.

The abrupt weightlessness startled Lu Rong so much that her mind blanked for a moment. Zhou Li finally felt a brief flash of clarity.

The next instant, Lu Rong’s voice echoed again in his mind.

[My chest isn’t big already—if he keeps squeezing me like this, what if it gets even smaller?]

She really was… unbelievably noisy.

“Don’t talk.”

[Kiss me?]

Zhou Li nearly dropped her from midair. Fortunately, Bing Lie steadied them, and he dragged his gaze away from her lips.

With his head and ears buzzing, he hauled her over and set her down on a hidden tree. Lu Rong blinked her big, round eyes curiously, looking around. She thought, Where is this? 

She opened her mouth to ask.

Zhou Li’s temples throbbed. Instinctively, he used Bing Lie to block her mouth, signaling with his eyes for her to stay quiet.

Lu Rong pressed her lips together, feeling the chill radiating from the sword.

Its coldness stood in stark contrast to the warmth of her lips, and even her heated breath drifted across the blade.

She looked up at him innocently, her palm resting against the sword as if coaxing him to put it away.

Zhou Li’s ears flushed a deeper shade of red, and his fingers unconsciously tightened around the hilt.

After all, he and Bing Lie shared a bond.

Every sensation the sword felt was being transmitted straight to the most sensitive parts of him, magnified severalfold.

And right now, on Zhou Li’s neck, her palm brushed gently over his skin. Her soft lips pressed against the cold flesh, warming it little by little, like tiny sparks catching fire…

———————-

Author’s Note:
This is, of course, the optimal application of “man and sword as one.”